When someone dies, their house does not automatically pass to the family. How it transfers depends on one thing: how the deed was titled on the day they died. A home owned jointly with a right of survivorship passes to the co-owner with a single recorded affidavit. A home held in a trust or covered by a transfer on death deed skips probate too. A home titled in the deceased person's name alone has to go through the probate court before anyone can legally sign a new deed or a sale contract.

This guide walks through each path, what to do with the house in the meantime, and how a sale actually works when the estate is still open.

Step 1: Find out how the house is titled

Before you call a realtor or a lawyer, pull the current deed. The county recorder (sometimes called the register of deeds) keeps a copy, and most counties let you search online by the owner's name or the property address. The deed tells you which of four situations you are in.

Joint ownership with right of survivorship. If the deed names two owners as "joint tenants with right of survivorship" or as "tenants by the entirety" (a form reserved for married couples), the surviving owner already owns the whole house as of the date of death. No probate is needed for the home. The survivor records the death certificate, usually with a short affidavit of survivorship, and the county updates its records.

A transfer on death deed. About 30 states let owners record a deed during life that names who gets the property when they die. If one exists, the named beneficiary records the death certificate and a simple affidavit, and title passes outside probate. Our transfer on death deed guide covers how these work state by state.

A living trust. If the deed shows the owner as trustee of a trust, the successor trustee named in the trust document can sign a new deed to the beneficiaries, or sell the house and distribute the proceeds, without court involvement.

The deceased person's name alone. This is the most common situation, and it means the house is a probate asset. Nobody can sell it or retitle it until the court appoints an executor or administrator. If the rest of the estate is small, some states let heirs use a shortcut instead; our small estate affidavit guide explains the limits, though many states exclude real estate from those shortcuts.

One more wrinkle: if the deceased person owned property in a second state, that property generally needs its own proceeding there. Our ancillary probate guide explains when a second court gets involved.

Step 2: Protect the house while the estate is open

Probate takes months, and an empty house loses value fast. Whoever is handling the estate should do these things in the first few weeks, even before the court makes an appointment official.

• Keep paying the mortgage. The loan does not disappear at death, and missed payments can start a foreclosure clock while the family is still grieving. A federal law (the Garn-St Germain Act) blocks the lender from calling the loan due just because the home passed to a relative, and federal rules require servicers to work with a "successor in interest" once you send a death certificate.
• Call the homeowner's insurance company. Many policies limit or void coverage when a home sits vacant for 30 to 60 days. Ask about a vacant-home endorsement if nobody will be living there.
• Keep utilities on. Heat prevents burst pipes in winter; power keeps sump pumps and alarm systems running.
• Stay current on property taxes. Tax liens attach to the house itself and follow it to the new owner.
• Secure the property. Change the locks if keys are floating around, collect the mail, and document the contents. Forwarding the mail also surfaces accounts and bills you did not know about; see our guide to handling mail after a death.

These carrying costs are proper estate expenses. Pay them from an estate account instead of a personal one so reimbursement and the final accounting stay clean. If the estate does not have one yet, here is how to open an estate bank account.

Step 3: Transfer the house to the person inheriting it

Once you know the path, the mechanics are straightforward.

Survivorship and transfer on death situations. Record a certified death certificate with the county, along with the affidavit your state uses (affidavit of survivorship, affidavit of death of joint tenant, or the TOD equivalent). Order more certified copies than you think you need; the county, the lender, and the insurer will each want one. Our guide to ordering death certificates covers cost and quantity.

Trust property. The successor trustee signs and records a trustee's deed conveying the house to the beneficiary. Most trustees have a lawyer or title company prepare it to keep the chain of title clean.

Probate property. The court-appointed executor or administrator signs an executor's deed (or administrator's deed) conveying the house to the heir named in the will or determined by state intestacy law. Depending on the state, this happens after creditors are addressed or with specific court approval. The heir who receives the house takes it with a stepped-up tax basis, which matters enormously if they sell later; more on that below.

Whoever inherits should immediately put the insurance and utilities in their own name and file for any property tax exemptions they qualify for, like a homestead exemption.

Step 4: How to sell a house during probate

Families often prefer to sell, either because no heir wants the home or because the estate needs cash to pay debts. You can usually list the house while probate is open, but the sale has extra steps.

1. Get appointed first. Only the executor or administrator can sign a listing agreement and a purchase contract for the estate. The court issues letters testamentary or letters of administration proving that authority.
2. Check your authority level. In many states the executor can sell with no further court involvement, especially when the will grants a power of sale. Other states, and some situations, require court confirmation of the specific sale, which adds notice periods and sometimes an open-bid hearing.
3. Get a date-of-death appraisal. It establishes the stepped-up basis and shows the court and the heirs that the price was fair.
4. Disclose and close like a normal sale, with estate paperwork. The title company will want the death certificate, the letters, and in confirmation states the court order. Buyers' lenders are used to estate sales; the timeline just runs a little longer.
5. Deposit the proceeds into the estate account. Not a personal account. Proceeds pay the mortgage balance, the remaining debts, and expenses, and the rest goes to the heirs in the final distribution.

If the timing is not urgent, weigh the market against carrying costs. Our post on how long probate takes can help you plan the window.

What about taxes when you sell?

Here is the piece of good news in all of this. Inherited property gets a stepped-up basis: for capital gains purposes, the house is treated as if the heir bought it at its fair market value on the date of death, not at the price the deceased person paid decades ago.

Say a parent bought a home for $80,000 and it was worth $400,000 when they died. If the family sells it for $410,000 a few months later, the taxable gain is roughly $10,000, not $330,000. Sell quickly at appraised value and there may be no gain at all. This is why the date-of-death appraisal is worth the few hundred dollars it costs.

The estate or the heir may still owe capital gains tax on appreciation after the death, and a handful of states have inheritance taxes with their own rules. But receiving the house itself is not income to the heir under federal law.

How Sunset helps with the house and everything else

The house is usually the biggest asset in an estate, but it is rarely the only one. Sunset settles the whole estate end to end: we search for every account and policy the person left behind, prepare probate paperwork for your county, open an FDIC-insured estate account to hold sale proceeds and pay carrying costs, and handle the transfers to heirs. For real estate we help with deeds, valuations, and getting the property ready to sell or retitle.

More than 10,000 families have used Sunset to settle an estate, and it is free for families. If you are staring at a parent's house and a stack of paperwork, get started with Sunset and let us carry the administrative weight.

Frequently asked questions

Can you sell a house before probate is complete?

Usually yes, once the court has appointed an executor or administrator. The sale closes while the estate is open, and the proceeds go into the estate account until final distribution. In states that require court confirmation, the specific sale needs a judge's approval before closing.

What happens to the mortgage when the homeowner dies?

The mortgage stays attached to the house. The estate or the person who inherits keeps making payments, and federal law prevents the lender from demanding full payoff just because the home passed to a relative. If nobody pays, the lender can eventually foreclose, so address the mortgage early.

Do all heirs have to agree to sell an inherited house?

If the house passed to multiple heirs jointly, yes, all co-owners must sign the deed to sell, and a holdout can force a court partition action. If the executor sells during probate under a power of sale, heir consent is generally not required, though heirs receive notice and can object.

How long do you have to transfer a house after a death?

There is no single deadline, but waiting creates problems: insurance can lapse on a vacant home, taxes accrue, and heirs' legal claims get messier over time. Most families record survivorship or TOD transfers within a few weeks and complete probate transfers in 6 to 12 months.

Do you pay taxes on a house you inherit?

Inheriting the house is not federal taxable income, and the stepped-up basis wipes out capital gains that built up during the owner's life. You may owe capital gains tax on appreciation after the date of death if you sell later, plus ordinary property taxes while you own it. A few states charge an inheritance tax depending on your relationship to the deceased person.